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A Day at Tunbridge Wells
ago,"—the narrator is one Tristram, a surgeon practising at " The Wells," and his story will be found in an undated Concise Guide to Tunbridge Wells,—" the liberal-minded owner of the Manor laid out a large sum in building and setting up a suitable pump-room and two large baths; but as the spring was a public one, the old dispensors of the water could not be dispossessed. War to the knife began between them and the more juvenile ones inside, the outsiders representing to the drinkers that the water had lost half its virtue in passing through pipes and pumps . . . and as they had some truth on their side, they very soon gained the day; the pump-room was turned into a shop, and the baths were forgotten." After the water was taken, or between the glasses, the company promenaded on the Upper Walk, where the band played between the hours of eight and ten.
There were two Walks, the Upper and the Lower, and these were quite distinct, as an entry in the Register of the Chapel of Ease shows : " July 3, 1728.—Lower Walk levelled and repaired, and gates made to keep horses from coming on the Lower Walk." The Lower Walk was used by tradesmen, and the lower Q^ 24* |
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